This article offers a critical review of research on the use of glossing and its contribution to second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition. Discussion topics include the complexity of estimating the effectiveness of glossing relative to reading non-glossed texts, the quest for optimal implementations of glossing, issues of ecological validity,…

Reading is a complicated cognitive procedure of deciphering symbols to create meaning. It's a complicated relationship that the reader has with the text and is lead by a reader's previous knowledge, experiences, attitude, and culture. Second language (L2) reading comprehension is perhaps a more complicated procedure and there's a need to ensure…

The growing number of children in primary schools in Germany who have German as their second language (L2) has raised questions about the fairness of performance assessment. Fair tests are a prerequisite for distinguishing between L2 learning delay and a specific learning disability. We evaluated five commonly used reading and spelling tests for…

Some words in English are derived words, i.e., words with an affix that changes their part of speech, like know "(v)" [right arrow] "knowable (adj)," or meaning, like "pleasant (adj)" [right arrow] "unpleasant (adj)." As a reading teacher, Tom Cobb had always believed that derived words were not particularly…

Extensive reading is an approach to language learning that encourages learners to read a large quantity of easy reading material. A substantial body of research confirms the effectiveness of this approach for developing proficiency in both first (L1) and second (L2) languages. This paper explains what extensive reading is, why it is important, and…

When learners can comprehend 98% or more of the tokens within a text, the lexical difficulty of the text is unlikely to inhibit reading comprehension (Schmitt et al., 2011). This phenomenon will be referred to as the Coverage Comprehension Model (CCM). The CCM is present in countless articles that describe the percentage of tokens necessary to…

In this article the researchers explain a concept that they have termed "critical biliteracy instruction." Utilizing a sociocultural approach to literacy and language learning, they examine discourse theory and the four resources model (Freebody & Luke, 1990) to support the approaches they describe. Then they explore research-based…

Pedagogical translanguaging refers to the use of different planned strategies based on activating students' resources from their whole linguistic repertoire . The aim of this article is to examine the theoretical foundations of pedagogical translanguaging and its application in the classroom. The core characteristics of pedagogical translanguaging…

Reading is an indispensable tool in the academic world. Most, if not all, activities in varied collegiate courses entail the act of reading. There are many contributing factors that affect one's ability to read and comprehend text materials effectively. Two of the many factors are the reader's vocabulary size and their reading motivation. This…

In response to McLean (2021), Laufer (2021) makes three claims which are either not supported by research or are based on studies with important limitations. First is that a vocabulary size, instead of a level, can be used to match learners with lexically appropriate materials despite test creators and research not supporting this. Second is that…

Most people want to be able to read their reading materials quicker and remember them effectively. Covering a large quantity of reading materials at a normal speed requires much more time than is usually available. Good readers, however, can cover a lot of materials by identifying key elements of a sentence for key idea with the help of…

How can we identify authentic reading material that matches the learner's proficiency and fosters their language development? Traditionally, this involves assigning a one-dimensional label to the text that identifies the grade or proficiency level of the learners that the text is intended for. Such an approach is inadequate given that both the…

Freshman students learning English as foreign language have problems in comprehending English texts such as inability to identify main ideas, paragraph topics, supporting details and the organizational structure of a text. They have difficulty writing a summary or making an outline of the main ideas and important supporting details in a single, or…

In this article, Charlie Taylor offers a commentary on Yang et al.'s 2021 "Reading in a Foreign Language" article, "Text Difficulty in Extensive Reading: Reading Comprehension and Reading Motivation." In their study, Yang et al. analyzed the effects of text difficulty on the reading comprehension and motivation of high school…

This paper aims to further understand the future development of literacy theory and language learning in contemporary Chinese universities through the research on the current situation of EFL students' literacy in Chinese universities and the teaching characteristics of contemporary Chinese teachers. In this study, literature analysis method,…